SEMAP Deconcentration Objectives

Need

The Section 8 Management Assessment Program (SEMAP) requires annual certification by the PHA of the extent to which it has tried—and succeeded—in expanding its Section 8 Voucher program to non-poor and non-minority neighborhoods. There are actually two criteria, which are measured somewhat differently:

  1. Deconcentration Bonus Indicator—credit for this criterion depends on the PHA’s numerical success in locating its Voucher tenants outside of poor areas.
  2. Expanding Housing Opportunities [Criterion #7]—credit for this criterion depends on the PHA’s implementation of a policy to encourage Voucher tenants to locate outside areas of poverty or minority concentration.

For HUD's SEMAP form, click here

 

 

Process

Deconcentration Bonus Indicator:

  1. The sponsoring PHA sends me a list of Voucher families with children, and their mover status in the past year. I verify and correct obvious address spelling errors.
  2. I geocode addresses, thereby determining which census tracts they are in, and their latitude and longitude.
  3. I analyze whether families that had moved recently tended to move into areas of low poverty concentration.
  4. I prepare maps of areas that are below-average in poverty, based on 2000 census data at the tract level, labeling the approximate boundary streets.
  5. Using the geocoded addresses, I display where Voucher families are located by whether they are “movers” or “stayers.”
  6. I calculate percentages for the SEMAP annual report, and provide a report for HUD auditors.
  7. I provide the PHA with a corrected and standardized list of Voucher families.

Expanding Housing Opportunities:

  1. I prepare maps of areas that are below-average in poverty and minority concentration, based on 2000 census data at the tract and block-group level. Poor and minority areas generally are those that are higher than the PHA area's average. I identify and label streets that form the boundaries of these areas.
  2. Optionally, I assemble, geocode, and display information about job opportunities, schools, religious institutions, and other neighborhood services in these areas. This can be very time-consuming, depending on what level of detail you desire and how easy this information is to get in your area.
  3. The complexity of the work will depend in large part on the type of maps you desire—at what level of detail and how close to “presentation” quality you desire.
 

 
 

Charges

The cost of doing these tasks depends on a lot of variables, including the geographic size and complexity of the area; the quality of the address list; the ease of obtaining geocoded information about job opportunities, schools, religious institutions, and other neighborhood services in non-poor areas; and the quality of the maps you desire. Generally:

  1. Deconcentration Bonus Indicator will cost you $1,500-2,500 for the first year and about two-thirds of that for each succeeding year.
  2. Expanding Housing Opportunities will cost an additional $2,000-$3,000. Because the amount of work is so difficult to predict, I prefer to work on an hourly basis, at $80 per billable hour. This may well save you money compared to a fixed-fee contract.